The College of Engineering will showcase the research of its graduate students -- from untangling telephone wires to improving the rowing stroke -- on March 31 at the inaugural Engineering Graduate Research Symposium. The college intends to make the symposium an annual event.
The college, together with the Engineering Graduate Association, is sponsoring the event, which will be held in G10 Biotechnology Building, beginning with a lunch at 1 p.m. The greatly varied research of the students will be featured in five oral presentations and 30 posters.
Co-organizer Susannah Hobbs, professional development associate in the college, said that when the idea of the symposium was first floated, it drew immediate enthusiasm from both graduate students and faculty members. The event is an opportunity for graduate students to interact with each other, but also for faculty to see what other graduate students are doing. In addition, it is hoped that this overview of research under way in the college will attract undergraduates and prospective graduate students.
The five oral presentations were chosen from submissions by a faculty program committee that included Graeme Bailey, professor of computer science; Linda Nozick, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering; Lang Tong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Z. Jane Wang, assistant professor of theoretical and applied mechanics; and Charles Williamson, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
The five students, all Ph.D. candidates, and their departments are: David Cabrera and Cedric Langbort, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Carlos Garcia, Materials Science and Engineering; Debra Goldberg, Center for Applied Mathematics; and Andrew Spence, Applied and Engineering Physics. Their research presentations range from "Optimization of the Rowing Stroke" (Cabrera) to "How Bifurcation Theory Can Help You Untangle Your Telephone Wire" (Langbort). The five winners each will be awarded $250 at a ceremony following the presentations.
The symposium will conclude with a poster session in the Biotechnology Building atrium. The faculty program committee will select the top 10 posters earlier in the day, and the winners each will be presented with $100 at the award ceremony.
Hobbs' co-organizer is Joe Shultz. Both are part of the Office of Research, Graduate Studies and Professional Education. Shultz is associate director of the new office.
The keynote speaker at the symposium lunch will be John Silcox, Cornell's vice provost for physical sciences and engineering. The campus community is invited to attend the symposium free of charge. Call 255-7413 to attend the lunch, which begins at 1 p.m. Oral presentations will begin at 2:30. The award ceremony will be at 4:15, and the poster session will be from 4:40 to 6:30.
Additional information abut the symposium is available online at www.engr.cornell.edu/symposium.
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